


A Light in the Dark

by Siver



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-10-28 23:57:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20787203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siver/pseuds/Siver
Summary: An evening's talk along the Serpent's Trench





	A Light in the Dark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Phlyarologist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phlyarologist/gifts).

> Sabin and Celes have a whole leg of journey for just the two of them yet we hardly see them interact and that is just downright unfair. So here's a moment along in their journey.

Dark waves lapped over the rugged shore of ragged rock and smoothed pebbles. It was a low sound and Celes felt one of the few reliable constants in this new world of theirs. She came to know the ocean well from her time on the island to her trip across it and now once more as she and Sabin trekked along the paths of the Serpent’s Trench that had once been under water. Now they huddled near a cliff-side, keeping away from the damp shores and the cold breeze coming off it.

Their fire and chocobos created an oasis of warmth. She was still cold and while she was no stranger to the feeling, the chill of a dying world turned out to be quite different. She stared into the fire, letting the sounds of its crackling and Sabin’s rustling in whatever he was doing fill her ears. Cold, but less lonely than her solitary trek across the barren plains between Albrook and Tzen with only hope for the man who had been seen who may or may not have been one she knew. There was no company there save for the occasional monster and the distant tower looming over all that made her skin crawl with disgust and hatred for the being within.

Only memory of distances served her with no landmarks to judge by. The mountains she knew were gone; she may as well have been in a completely foreign place for all she knew this strange land now. It wasn’t home anymore under reddened skies.

This land was wholly new now as they travelled across the newly exposed Serpent’s Trench. It was comforting in a way; it was new and not the once familiar changed so drastically. She shivered and pressed closer to the fire.

“Hey.” There was a light touch of fabric before Sabin dropped down to sit beside her and drape a blanket over her shoulders.

“Thanks,” she replied and tugged the blanket closer.

Sabin glanced around. “Didn’t think I’d be crossing this place again like this.”

“You’ve sailed it then?”

Sabin laughed, a sudden bright sound over the mournful waves. “That would’ve been easier!”

“What do you…?”

“We met you in Narshe, but we had a long way to go to get there. Cyan, Gau and me? We swam through the trench.”

Celes stared at him disbelieving. Of all the… “You can’t be serious.”

“I almost wish I wasn’t,” Sabin chuckled before his mirth faded into the dark. “I hope they’re safe wherever they are. Can’t imagine what’d bring those two down, but well.”

Celes nodded. No need to explain that point; their surroundings did it for them. “We found Terra safe. Everyone else is still out there. Cyan and Gau, Setzer, Locke.”

“Edgar,” he replied quietly. He heaved a sigh. “There’s a rumour Figaro is missing. How a whole castle can just vanish… well I can only think of two possibilities. It’s underground somewhere or…”

Or destroyed Celes thought, thinking back to her journey again. Vector was gone, only remnants of broken foundations and damaged earth showing any sign it had ever been there. What other places and cities had been wiped away? Surely not Figaro.

Sabin shook his head. “Nothing’s gonna bring my brother down, but where is he? I haven’t seen or heard anything of him this past year. If Figaro is lost somewhere, maybe he’s with it.”

“If he’s with it I doubt it’s lost or that it would stay lost.”

“Yeah. He’d do anything to protect it.” Sabin leaned back to stare up at the sky. “Idiot,” he muttered.

Celes gave him a questioning stare and Sabin returned it with a bitter sort of smile. “Me,” he added. “Thinking he’d ever leave it up to chance. Maybe you heard the story? About how the succession was decided with a coin toss?”

Celes nodded. The matron had spoken of it when they travelled to Kohlingen. Celes wondered what business she thought it was of theirs, but she’d listened and found herself eyeing Edgar and wondering. There was clearly more to him than the laid back, womanizing exterior—he’d held back the Empire after all—but to settle such a thing on the toss of a coin? There had to be more to it and of course as it turned out there was.

“I never gave it another thought until you took that gamble with Setzer. When I saw that coin… It was so obvious then. Of course he did. He gave me everything and chained himself to the throne. I got the life I wanted and ran away from it all. I left him to hold Figaro together and keep the Empire at bay for ten years and he did. He’s a better king than I’d ever be. I owe him more than I can say. It's my turn to help him and I can’t even find him.” He gave her a gentle nudge. “Then I almost got myself crushed under a building. I owe you for that too.”

“You don’t owe me anything. I’m glad to have your company.” Celes slipped a hand out from under the blanket and Locke’s bandana draped across it. “When I left the island this was all I had. I didn’t know how long it would take to find land or how much land there was to find. Then I found you and we found Terra. I hoped, but it was hard to believe. Now I truly do believe we will find the others.”

Sabin clapped her shoulder. “Ha! When you put it like that it’s hard not to believe!” His hand remained over her shoulder, a firm and comforting pressure. “I’m glad to have you around too.”

Celes gave a faint smile. Sabin was here, reassuring in his solid presence and seeming to lack an ounce of suspicion toward her despite her background. They only had the ocean and their small fire for company as darkness fell around them. Evidence of ruin lay all around them and each day was a constant reminder of what they lost, yet this night as they sat together, for the first time in a long time Celes felt things could be okay.

As the fatigue of the past several days caught up Celes’s head dropped to rest against Sabin’s shoulder and they rested peacefully through the night, alternating sleep and watches, secure in each other’s presence. They set off again in the morning, hope driving them ever onward.


End file.
